pslewis

I have had some trouble with my PC only 'seeing' 128Mb of a 256Mb RAM Memory Module. (it was perfect when the PC was new).

I have done everything I can think of Bar buying some more RAM as I'm not absolutely sure that its at fault (and its non-returnable of course!)

Now, someone has said that I should re-load the Motherboard Drivers as that may be the fault (the PC went funny and started asking for passwords in XP when it lost its half of the RAM Module) - so I reloaded XP on top of another XP (apparently, thats what I have done?)

Anyway, the motherboard drivers - when I found what looked like to be the correct drivers there is a dire warning about the end of the world if I download the wrong ones ....... is this true? Can it all end it a useless PC?

MotherBoard is:- MICRO-STAR INTERNATIONAL Co.Ltd. - MS-6382 - BIOS:- AWARD Software 6.00 PG

Anyone help?

Pete

Barmyclown

does it only see 128 MB when the post message is displayed, and also are you running intergrated graphics maybe you`ve set it to take 128meg.

Hanslow

I don't know why you were told the mobo drivers might be at fault cos that sounds like a load of kak!

Have you tried pulling the ram out and reseating it? Yes Pete, you are allowed to open your PC up

Do what BarmyC says and check how much RAM is reported when you turn the PC on. I won't mention going into the BIOS at this stage as I know you will only have a heart attack

pslewis

Its says its got 128 - at the opening screen and when asked in the Control Panel.

I have moved the Module into the adjacent slot and it still sees 128 - what I really wanted to know was, 'Would the wrong Motherboard Drivers cause the error'? and 'would loading up the drivers, if wrong, damage the PC'?

Pete

lightning101

Sounds like the bios has reset pete and defaulted to 128mb shared graphucs as mentioned above.


When booting go into bios and look under integrated chipset or integrated components - look for shared graphics and set to 16 or 32mb.

Is your ram double sided - e.g 8 chips on each side ?

Lum

The motherboard drivers only get loaded as Windows boots, ie. when the XP logo is displayed. As the RAM is misreported before this stage then the problem is obviously not motherboard drivers and, other than the shared graphics situation described above, is almost certainly hardware related.
Since the fault hapens with it in both slots, then it is going to be either faulty RAM (likely) or a faulty memory controller (unlikely). Your best bet is to try someone else's RAM in your machine, and try your RAM in their machine.
You could try clearing the CMOS (see your motherboard manual for procedure, this can be obtained from www.msi.com.tw) but I dont think it will do any good to be honest.

pslewis

Yes, double sided and I have a graphics card (so won't the 64Mb RAM on that be automatically used for Graphics?)

Thanks for all your comments and help!

Pete

Dr Nick

I have actually encounered this myself.

I had a powersurge (presumably) when my power supply blew.

I had two 512mb sticks of DDR sitting almost new on my mobo. One of the sticks was completely destroyed in the incident the other one lost half its capacity but still worked as a 256 mb stick.

I found this out by systematically swapping out faulty items when I was making my repairs. By a strange coincidence it was also an MSI board and I too had to reinstall my OS.

I would speculate that it is not your BIOS that is at fault.

This leaves the question of whether you have suffered a power surge.

Hope that helps some as a first had report.

Cheers!

pslewis

Yes, I suffered a power surge when it all went wrong!!

Pete